7mm Pencarrow - Cornish BR(S)

[Pencarrow]

What is Pencarrow?
It's a 7mm BLT layout I'm slowly building which has for its inspiration the ex LSWR lines in the Bodmin, Wenford and Wadebridge area. It's set in the late 50s /early 60s. I started the project in 2013 as a complete 7mm novice and have recorded progress to date here: Pencarrow Bridge: Maunsell BCK (pg 130 post 3249) - 7mm+ modelling. (Apologies to those who are allergic to 'other' forums.)

Poor old Bodmin North was not a location I previously considered modelling due to the limited nature of the services. I was previously modelling in 4mm and thoughts often turned to something based on Padstow or Wadebridge - much more of interest going on. A change to 7mm in the same space obviously meant those ideas were out of the window. My initial thoughts were a smallish shunting layout based on Wenford Bridge but with the addition of a small halt. As time went on ideas moved on to a scenario that would justify slightly larger locos and a greater variety of stock. As this journey unwound the low-key Wenford-esq buildings have slowly been replaced by those from around Bodmin North.

I don't however plan to build Bodmin North, although it's a relatively small scale station, it's far bigger than my domestic environment allows and therefore it's going to be more of a condensed 'inspired by' type layout. I am however aiming to recreate various common views of Bodmin North within parts of the layout.

Track Plan and Standards
As intimated in the intro the track plan has evolved over the last few years, with the handing and position of various features moving around, but essentially it's still a loop with a couple of sidings and a kick-back to a freight only line. Below is a sketch I knocked up before Christmas 2015 showing how I then saw all the elements fitting together. Each of the four scenic boards is 1m wide by 960mm deep giving a total area of 4m x 960mm. The fiddle yard is off to the right, about 1300mm long and will probably use cassettes.


The track will be hand built using C&L components to the 31.5mm 'modified fine' gauge. All the points are B6s. Just about all the lines are curved to some degree and the minimum radius I'm using in Templot is 1800mm.

The AnyRail image below shows a quick and dirty version of the 2015 track plan but obviously the Templot version will use sweeping curves and not have the gap in the loop caused by the limitations of AnyRail.

Track building is a new skill I'm learning but my first attempts can be seen below:


Building a layout such as Pencarrow as a solo project is obviously time consuming and involves a fair chunk of cash. So it's a big commitment and needs to be right. Through 2016 I started worrying that the plan I had was a little bit too much like a bog standard BLT and not enough like Bodmin North.

In a break with the tradition on most BLTs I therefore decide to bring the platform to the front and, on the left two boards, copy as close as I could the layout of Bodmin North.

At 960mm my boards are deeper than average but even so not wide enough to accommodate all the tracks, roads and buildings. One of the sidings between the platform and loading dock was therefore deleted.

The photo below shows the 1:10 mock up I made showing the revised plan, with the layout taking shape behind.


I think the following shots show what I'm trying to achieve, the feel of Bodmin North in a much smaller area.

Compared to...

 

[Pencarrow]

Sorry if I have missed it elsewhere but would you mind explaining how you scribed/carved the plasticard and what tools you use. My experience with thicker plasticard is that it is quite tough and anything beyond simple scribing is hard work that takes a lot of time. Your results look great and the level of detail achieved could make the work worthwhile - especially if you have tricks to make it easier.

Stonework First Method
First a couple of points...
1. This s my suggestion of a way to do this not the only way - I'm sure others have equally good if not better methods
2. A don't actually have a method but a series of ways which are still evolving as I find other tools to abuse
3. Yes, I agree, plasticard can be quite hard but some makes (Jarvis?) are softer and easier to carve
4. I've made all this up by trial and error, with the aim of trying to match the coursing, stone shapes and finishes of the prototype walls

Anyway, now on to the first bit - tools (none of which needs to be expensive, it's more about their ability to mark plastic and the type of mark they make):

• Pencil - for marking out the stones to be carved
• Tamiya scriber - for cutting grooves in the plastic
• Small blunt nosed file (the tip of mine was broken off opening a paint tin a while back) - for gouging chunks
• Sharp point engineers scribe - for scratching lines and adding texture
• Razor saw - for dragging sideways across the plastic to add texture
• Big coarse (b@stard cut) file - for more texture adding
• Set of small chisels - for general carving
• Craft knife - for cutting!
• Various grades of sandpaper / wet and dry
• Filler - for filling gaps and adding lumps
• Anything else in the toolbox that can be abused...

Tamiya scriber


Set of small chisels


Halfords' best car body putty / filler


Random other sharp pointy and rough tools

 

[Pencarrow]

A 20t brake from coaches and stonework.

Before Christmas I was given a part completed model of a BR 20t brake van by a good friend. Damian (of Diesels in the Duchy 'fame') had dabbled in 7mm before and never got round to finishing the Slaters kit. Rather generously he thought it would be of use to me on Pencarrow.



Well it's been sat on the shelf for a few months whilst I've been working on my Maunsell coach but, I needed a break from that so this brake was picked up. Finishing the model as the BR version was obviously too easy and therefore I decided to alter it into the late LNER variant.

I did think that this would be straight forward but there's no end of differences. Those I've spotted are:

• Rainstrips should be flat and straight not curved
• Majority of the rivets on and around the ducket need to be removed
• The planking above and below the ducket is different
• Different arrangement of lamp irons on the ends
• No handrails on the end platforms
• Insets in the concrete end weights need to be filled (this seems correct for a Toad to Diag 158 but not the later 1/500)
  
• Different arrangement of handrails either side of the entries
• Shortened step boards
• Vacuum braking equipment added
• Different brake shoes
  
• Altered axle guards and J hangers (amending the kit parts to better reflect the shape in photos)

Most of the above alterations aren't mentioned in the Slaters destructions. Their drawings of the early Diag 61 van (no concrete ends) also includes the underframe trussing which of course shouldn't be there on the early vans. The kit doesn't mention the Vac equipment on the Diag 158 and there are no parts in the kit for it. Thankfully I've learned the hard way that it's best to look at books and photos before making stuff.
As the kit was part completed, some of the mods above required open kit surgery and a little backwards progress before moving forwards. Would have been easier to start with a fresh kit but where is the fun in that?

Like many others I've struggled to find details of how all the brake linkages work but there's a fair few photos buried within various threads on here and elsewhere. I've enough info now to produce a passable representation.

I did want to add chassis springing to this van using either bill Bedford or ambis parts but that would have required significantly more surgery to reset the solebars.

Today's first task is to find the roof vent I dropped in the full waste basket under my desk...

Surgery

Reconstruction (weight added to concrete slabs)

Slab mods

Stepbboard brackets

Weight added and Vac equipment


More underside work

Brakes, axle guards, J hangers, surgery for compensation units (late change of mind)


Step boards (shortened) being added


Roof detail. All the photos I carried show the rainstrip bring flat and straight rather than heavily curved (as per kit) or straight and raked (as per later BR builds).

Ducket detail. Majority of the rivets removed and the vertical planking extended to the edge of the ducket. Some tidying to do.

second stepboards

 

[Pencarrow]

The Evil Agenoria 1366 - An Update

This was the first 7mm loco kit that I bought and started to build. Not having tried anything like this before I was taken in by the shiny built example on a stand at a show and the proprietor's assurance that this was an easy / simple 0-6-0 design suitable for a beginner. How naive I was!



The build started reasonably well and I followed the instructions implicitly. As I progressed though, it slowly became apparent that the kit had three main problems:
1. Some of the etched parts were the wrong shape and size - something that should have been obvious to the proprietor from the test build.
2. The castings provided were a random selection of badly formed or totally inappropriate parts that bore little similarly to those on the real loco.
3. The instructions, although detailed, ignored the realities of the prototype and were wrong and misleading in places.




So this build has been an introduction the world of remaking and altering parts and sourcing replacement castings. A year into the build, with the kit fighting me at every turn, I gave up on it. I must admit at being quite angry at the time about the money wasted on such a poor kit.



The experience almost prompted me to abandon the 7mm idea and go back to 4mm. Obviously I was not cut out for 7mm. It was a close thing but instead I built a connoisseur LSWR O2 and a few etched wagon kits. These were all superb by comparison. Confidence restored.

Some two years later, after much prodding and ribbing, I picked up the kit again. During the break I've gained tools and more importantly experience. The battle has recommenced!



The last few months has been spent remaking further parts, sourcing further replacement castings and generally rethinking some of the naive ideas I originally had. The body is slowly getting there and starting to look like the prototype. The last body panel went on a few weeks back, the bunker rear, and I'm now into the detailing phase.




Tbc

 

[Pencarrow]

Very pleased when I got home tonight, look what was waiting for me:


And inside:


Those frames look much better quality items.

 

[Pencarrow]

The observant may note that I've also remade the springs and hangers. The old castings were removed and the short hangers cut off. I then added some new hangers from Laurie Griffin, which were the closest I could find on his stand, and shortened the top links.


This has raised them about 2-3mm and places them in the correct location in relation to the other footplate items. The footplate was then drilled in the centre of the spring and some brass rod added to simulate the link to the hornblock.

You don't see much of the springs on the drivers side due to the levers, but a better view on the fireman's side:

 

[Pencarrow]

Not had a good few weeks on the modelling front. Nothing much on the 1366 and then last weekend I discovered mice had had there way with an old project in store. Very upsetting.

So after a week in the doldrums I decided that a change of tack was required. Some work on the layout itself.

So here is the plan of the left-hand side of the layout.







And after some measurements, photos of various items on the board.

 

[Pencarrow]

All cleaned off and tidied up.



Back to where I was in 2014 when the original plan was to do a Wenford Bridge type layout.

 

[Pencarrow]

So what's the plan now?

Still this:



The Bodmin based trainset.

 

[Pencarrow]

Oh, three coaches easily fit in the loop, and here's where I left off last night:

 

[Pencarrow]

Board joints...

Drill 2mm diameter hole in the sleepers under the rail position through the cork and into the ply. Insert brass rod and file down to match the height of the underside of the rail.



Check with test piece of rail...



Celebrate with trip to pub...

 

[Pencarrow]

I've mentioned previously that I'm going to wire the layout so that it can be used for either DC or DCC.

In DC it will be wired for two controller cab control with sections.

In DCC it will have all the sections switched out via a clever master switch wiring scheme designed by Geoff Cook.

My thoughts on where to install the section breaks for the DC version is below, have I missed anything obvious?:

 

[Pencarrow]

What is clear is that I can't put off building the fourth scenic board any longer. So last Friday I took a cutting list up to the timber merchants and tomorrow I'll be collecting the parts all cut out of 1/4" birch ply.

Cutting plan:


Construction plan:


I think that's it on updates for now!

 

[Pencarrow]

Pedro teething, or Reading show, I know which I would prefer. I need some parts for my altered plans.

Teething not fun, glad I'm over that!

Met Simon D and Dan R today.

Came away with this:



How are you changing plans?

 

[Pencarrow]

Managed to grab another day on the layout. I worked out the station canopy dimensions, which set the platform width, which set the station building position. So on with the platform on the first two boards.

 

[Pencarrow]

And a start being made at the back corner. I've sunk the grain store down to about the right level and built up the back to road level. There's walls, steps, gates and embankments to go in but hopefully the picture of what I'm aiming for is building.











Mostly built out of foam board, something I'm trying instead of ply to keep board weight down.

Photos show that the raised corner had a petrol station, cafe and bank of trees behind a road. I don't have spacee for all that but intend having a shell totem, small low relief cafe building and some greenery behind a narrow (under- scale) road.

 

[Pencarrow]

Ooooh, looky, a parcel from Shapeways:

 

[Pencarrow]

Then, following Santa dropping off a few packages, I was able to lay the remaining sleepers.

 

[Pencarrow]

So, a few photos to show trackwork slowly progressing. The various section breaks and feeds are all added as I progress. Takes longer that way but there's a growing sea of droppers poking out under the boards.

The trap/catch on the clay branch is in:




And a few more of the trackwork (and general mess) at the fiddle yard end if the layout:





And a clay train on the clay branch:


That last photo had made me think. Everything in it has been hand made by me: boards, Templot plan, track, loco and wagons. Going back 5 years, I never thought I'd be capable of any of this - I just played and modified RTR, built plastic kits and did green stuff on various layouts. Quite pleased really now I've thought about it.

 

[Pencarrow]

And two general views: